Evaluating the interview process
Summary 6: For you, it's all about being open to God, 24/7 You are a priest because
that's where you can best work for him [sic], both through your Monday-Friday work, and in your parish ministry. Everyone knows you're a priest, and wearing the clerical collar, being identifiable, is part of your evangelism.
The next step in the analysis is to look for patterns in the themes, trying to identify what matters to the participants and some indication as to why it is significant (Smith and Osborn, 2007, p. 70). From this, superordinate themes across the data are developed and tabulated (p. 74). This requires prioritising some themes (‘priesthood’, ‘why be ordained’, for instance), while dropping any which do not offer anything to the overall pattern emerging (‘character’, ‘difference between FTS and PSW’, for
instance). Frequency is not on its own a criterion for selecting or dropping a theme: how rich the data is in itself, or how well it illuminates other themes, are more
appropriate criteria for this type of analysis (pp. 74-75). In the case of ‘character’, this did not occur enough for me to take it further, although it is an interesting slant on the nature of the PSW; in the case of ‘difference between FTS and PSW’, it occurred frequently across the interviews, but it is the nature of the differences, which were categorised individually, that is interesting, rather than that they exist.
Table 2 summarises this stage of the analysis with examples from the interview data. These examples were chosen on the basis of selecting a quotation from each
interviewee in turn, provided I had identified the particular theme in a given person’s data, ensuring a range of examples across the interviewees.
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Table 2: Superordinate themes for the interview data Superordinate
theme
Examples from the interview data
PSW vocation I think that is part of the challenge where people turn to me from my secular world of work. They don't know how church does things, but they want me to be church for them their way.
But the thing I loved about MSE was having to make sense of it as a Christian vocation, as a seeking of God in God's world, as a seeking of the resurrection of Christ in God's world, in settings that were non-religious, by and large.
Church/secular interface
… that is about – that is specifically about bringing secular things into church, or into prayer. But it works both ways: you are very much a two-way, you're a dual carriageway and things go both ways.
I had my presentation and it was all prepared and I knew what I was going to say, and when it was my turn I stood up and heard myself saying, ‘Once upon a time there was a man called Jonah …’. And I do not know where that came from, it just came out, and the [secular context] audience, many of whom were steeped in some fairly fundamental religion, knew exactly where I was coming from. And somehow or other it just – it resonated with them, probably more than any other way I could have opened.
Holding the tension …although I’ve got much better at saying, no, I can’t do that here, and I need to do that there. I think that it’s – part of it is, it’s easy to feel a jack of all trades and master of none, that you do two half jobs badly, rather than the one job well. …when we went through the redundancies and the possible closures, I had – I prayed, because I said to God how am I going to cope with this?
Work matters …this man came up to me and he said, ‘I’m in the Merchant Navy now, because of you’, he said, ‘You were so strict, and you made me work and I got that B, and without it I’d have never been able to do what I always wanted’.
Okay, I’m a bureaucrat. My previous line manager said to me in one of my annual appraisals, ‘You’re not going to take this as a compliment, but it is one. You are my best
bureaucrat’, and I said, ‘That’s a very back-handed
compliment’ and he said, ‘I knew you’d say that, you didn’t accept the call to be a priest in the Church of God to be a bureaucrat, but it doesn’t stop you being good at it’.
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Superordinate theme
Examples from the interview data
Aware of God in all of life
I’m talking about ordinary people being able to see and feel that everything that they do is part of vocation, in inverted commas, or building the kingdom, or service to God, or whatever particular terms you want to use for it. That the whole feeling that people put things in boxes, and church on Sunday and family is a separate box, and work Monday to Friday is another box, and they’re not part of each other. It just seems to me to be so wrong.
… a lot of people, even within the church, find it difficult to understand that one can be totally open to what God is leading them to do throughout their daily life. … even on holiday God is still with me.
Why be ordained? Well, I’m ordained because that’s what I felt called to be. It is ontological for me; it’s not about status in the community or status in the congregation. It’s, I suppose, reduce it to the sacrament of offering up daily life for myself and for others, in the eucharist – not always at an altar – but in, so to speak, eucharistic moments when the everyday, the quotidian becomes sacred.
And the ultimate answer is, God decided that he [sic] wanted me to be ordained, and he appears to have decided that he wanted me to be ordained in the context in which I was then working, and largely still function. And, well, if that’s what he wanted, then ultimately that’s what he got.
Building the kingdom What gets me up in the morning? What gets me up is thinking that I can play my part in building God’s kingdom here on earth, a bit, at the school, or in the parish and that, for me, is a huge sense of joy and achievement.
I have always thought outside of the parish boundaries – to me, parish boundaries don’t exist – they didn’t exist for Christ, they didn’t exist for his apostles – and it’s outreach to whoever, whenever, however.
Theology of priesthood
…what is crucial is an MSE is not merely what some people do with their ministry, or one of many patterns of ministry. But it actually reflects a whole theological pattern for thinking about God …
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Superordinate theme
Examples from the interview data
… with the wisdom of hindsight, I can see that being an ordained priest made a huge difference in all sorts of ways. … For myself, I think what it gave me was a confidence that I could speak with authority, and I don’t mean the authority of a teacher, but that I had God, the Trinity, behind me and within me, when I was operating.
Future of the church We’re stuck on the physics model, which is about if you do that it will create this effect, instead of the biological model, which is why I talk about ecosystems, which is about diversity and things working together in an ecosystem. I think part of our ecosystem must be discipleship of people at work.
I think there’s a perception in the church as a whole, that they’ve no idea what’s facing them in terms of the
recruitment crisis. And therefore SSMs will become the default model anyway: one, because we can’t get them through, can’t get full-time clergy through, but if we could get them through, we couldn’t afford to pay.
Perception of PSW …if I presume that I am called to parish work sometimes, and that I and others are called to MSE sometimes, then we can’t afford to play that stupid game – we’re both called by God – so let’s not argue …
I think there is certainly a residual fear from stipendiaries of SSM clergy, who, in many cases, appear to be having it all. They’ve got the job, they’ve got the money, they’ve got all sorts of things …
Identity I think that being a priest teacher, or teacher priest, whichever way you want to play it, is who I am; and I particularly feel that this is a role that I was born to play. …why anyone would want to distinguish between ontology and function I am totally perplexed about, and I think it’s nonsense. So doing and being are two sides of the same coin, though being the more fundamental.
Fulfilment and joy And then at my ordination, I couldn’t stop grinning my head off. I was born in Cheshire – I was a Cheshire cat, I just felt filled with joy. And, by the end, my face was aching, but I couldn’t stop smiling, it was just so wonderful. And that felt like an anointing, which indeed it was.
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Superordinate theme
Examples from the interview data
I do feel I do get a lot of fulfilment and a great deal of joy from doing what I do … I realised after I talked to you and you went away, and I was thinking about it later in the evening and I thought, yes, I really do … this is really important, it is really … I get a great deal out of doing this, and I enjoy doing it.
Parish ministry … the sense of being committed to the parish bit, the parish way of life, which is quite distinctive, very demanding and has got some nice things to it, and some not so nice bits to it.
I’ve become more involved in parish ministry, because I’ve got more time now …
4.4
Analytic method in practice: the CIG data
Because my initial intention to use the CIG data as a lens for interpreting the interview data would have prevented my approaching the interview data with an open mind, I decided instead, once I had analysed the interview data using IPA, to do a similar exercise on the CIG data. Table 3 shows the superordinate themes I identified in the CIG data, with examples of contributing themes from my notes, and the CIG session from which they were taken. The complete list of themes for this data can be seen in Appendix 6.
Table 3: Superordinate themes for the CIG data
Superordinate theme Examples CIG session13
Bridge between church and secular world
Ministering in the world, richer 3
PSW well placed to reflect on integration of faith and life
F
Framing in terms of bringing in the world, but our lens is priesthood
F
13 1-4 indicates one of the first four sessions, prior to the interviews. F indicates the final session, after the interviews.
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Superordinate theme Examples CIG session13
Relationship with the institutional church
Priesthood and ministry not confined to a part-time space
1, 2, 4
Not part of the club, about God not the institution
2
Greater appreciation of priesthood among secular colleagues than valuing of work skills in church context
2, 4, F
PSWs not feeling valued 1, F
Vocation Feeling called, but also wanting to bring something unique
4, F
Whose choice? Ours or God’s? F
Work Impact of professional work on ministry 2, 3
Being good at our jobs, doing them well, really matters
3
What is sabbath for us? 3, 4
Because the CIG data are not the session transcripts, but comprise the notes I made as I listened to the transcripts, exemplar quotations cannot be given. The relationship between this analysis and the interview analysis is summarised in Table 4.
Table 4: Superordinate themes in the CIG and interview analysis CIG superordinate theme Corresponding interview superordinate theme Vocation PSW vocation Identity Why be ordained?
Fulfilment and joy
Work Church/secular interface
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CIG superordinate theme
Corresponding interview superordinate theme
Bridge between church and secular world
Church/secular interface
Aware of God in all of life
Building the kingdom
Relationship with the institutional church
Future of the church
Perception of PSW
Parish ministry
The first three CIG superordinate themes correspond to a significant question from the interviews:
Vocation What does it mean to be a priest in the secular? Work Does it make any difference to how we do our jobs? Bridge How does this proclaim Christ to the world?
The fourth theme can also be rendered as a question: ‘What is the role of the PSW in the church?’
These four questions are the basis of chapter 7, where I present the four PSW narratives which initiate the conceptual framework. Smith’s use of IPA is essentially idiographic (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009, p. 181), frequently presented in the form of case studies. Because of my concern to maintain the anonymity of my participants as far as possible, I decided not to do this, but instead to present four narratives which are rooted in my data, but which are not specific to any one individual. This is the first IPA level of analysis, in that the hermeneutic is one of empathy, using the four relationships (with God, secular work, the world, and the church), which the four questions represent, as a means of describing the PSW through the words of participating PSWs.
4.5
Validity and critique of the analytic process
As has been discussed, the analytic process was iterative at several levels. A first iteration, involving a thematic analysis of the CIG data, and then using this to provide a lens for the analysis of the interview data, proved to be insufficiently robust: as a method, it was open to the charge that I was choosing themes on the basis of my own prior biases. I therefore decided to use the method of IPA, analysing the interview
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data, and then the CIG data, for themes, then looking for patterns in those themes from which I constructed superordinate themes. These will be presented at the first IPA level (using an empathetic hermeneutic) in chapter 7, and at the second IPA level (using a questioning hermeneutic) in chapters 8 to 10.
Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009, pp. 180-184) include a detailed discussion of how validity might be established for IPA, suggesting four broad principles which any researcher using IPA should consider. The first is that of sensitivity to context. Analysis can only be as good as the data on which it is based, and so it is very important that the interview is conducted with an appropriate level of empathy, enabling the interviewee to construct their own meaning, while at the same time ensuring that the interviewer asks questions which provide the interviewee with a stimulus to reflect at depth on their experience. In using the interview data, the researcher should include “a considerable number of verbatim extracts” which
“support the argument being made, thus giving participants a voice in the project and allowing the reader to check the interpretations being made” (pp. 180-181). Such interpretations need to be made in the light of relevant literature, whether substantive (so related to the topic under discussion) or theoretical (underpinning the method). In this thesis, both theoretical and substantive literature are discussed in chapter 6, and the arguments in chapters 7 to 10 are based on verbatim excerpts from the interview transcripts.
The second principle Smith, Flowers and Larkin recommend is that of commitment and rigour. Commitment is shown in careful attention to the interviewee during the interview, and then in the care with which the analysis is carried out; rigour relates to the appropriateness of the sample, the quality of the interviews and the completeness of the analysis, which must be interpretative as well as descriptive (p. 181). “Good IPA studies tell the reader something important about the particular individual participants as well as something important about the themes they share” (p. 181): although I do not describe my participants individually, nevertheless, the reader will discover important aspects of what it means to be a PSW through their words as reported in chapters 7 to 10.
The third criterion is that of transparency and coherence. Transparency is a matter of being very clear about the stages of the research process in the final written account, including details of the participants (section 3.1), the data collection and the elements of the analytic process (this chapter and the preceding one) (p. 182). Coherence requires a logical presentation of the data, analysis and interpretation which lead into the argument made; contradictions in the data are allowed, but need to be considered carefully thereafter. The phenomenological and hermeneutic basis need to be clear.
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The final criterion is that of impact and importance: does the written account tell the reader something interesting and useful.
Smith, Flowers and Larkin also advocate that all the data is filed in such a way that an independent audit could be undertaken. Such an audit would seek to establish that the case made is credible and authentic, not that it is the only possible such account (p. 183). I do not claim that my interpretation of what my participants said about their experience and understanding of being a PSW is the only possible interpretation, nor do I claim that the framework I have produced is the only viable one that the data might support; however, I do claim that I have satisfied the criteria above, using the data to create an authentic conceptualisation of the PSW which has coherence, impact, interest and significance. In principle an independent audit could be
undertaken, in that all the data, and an account in my journal of the decisions I have made throughout the project, are, for the time being, stored electronically.
Having decided upon a phenomenological approach, I am happy that the method of IPA provides a robust analytical tool which is suitable for the analysis of a small number of cases where the focus is on personal experience, and that the content of chapters 7 to 10 represents an authentic interpretation of PSW experience and self- understanding. The tables presented in this chapter and in Appendix 5 and Appendix 6 provide evidence for its validity.
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5
Curating the Analysis and
Interpretation
My research question is:
How do people who are simultaneously ordained, licensed, priests in the C of E and engaged in secular work make sense of their particular vocation?
The gap in knowledge, which this research is designed to fill, is the ignorance of the experience
and self-understanding of PSWs, with their commitment to a significant area of
human life (secular work), which results in a deficiency, in fact if not in intention, in the C of E’s doctrine and theology of ministry. It is my hope that the outcome will be a useful contribution to practice, for the church no less than for PSWs themselves. Ward argued that ecclesiology “arises from a theological situatedness in the church” (2012, p. 3), but was concerned that there is “a disconnection between what we say doctrinally about the church and the experience of life in a local parish”. That disconnection, as I discuss in later chapters, is exemplified in the experience of PSWs.
The purpose of my research is threefold: to wrestle with my own self-understanding in